Sitcom Star Wars - Round 2

By The Times-Union,

If you're a TV addict - and let's be honest, who among us isn't - it's easy to see patterns in the American sitcom. From the "situations" to the plots to the one-liners, half-hour comedies tend to look and feel alike.

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This is especially true of the characters.

Having spent waaaayyy too much time thinking about things such as this, some of us in the Times-Union Lifestyle department have identified eight stock sitcom characters. These are the familiar people who populate most sitcoms.

We came up with these categories independently, but by sheer coincidence, author Scott Sedita had already come to similar conclusions in his book The Eight Characters of Comedy: A Guide to Sitcom Acting and Writing (Atides Publishing). His book focuses on how to create characters for modern sitcoms, so his categories, while similar to some of ours, aren't as comprehensive. We did refocus one of our categories - shrew/jerk - based on his book. Otherwise, these are all ours.

Rarely does a sitcom have all eight of these as regularly occurring characters, and at times one character may fill two of these roles. But most sitcoms have at least five of these characters, and often guest stars fill the roles that don't have a regular cast member.

So, we present the eight stock characters found in American sitcoms, along with some classic shows that used all or most of these characters.

How They Did - Round 1

Click here to download a full -size .pdf of this week's bracket

See who's moving on - and who's out of the contest

The old guard generally held its own against the newer upstarts in Round 1 of Sitcom Star Wars. There were some upsets No. 3 seeds Jethro Bodine and Will Smith both went down but all of the top seeds advanced, and The Fonz showed that hes still got it, pulling in more votes than everybody but Archie Bunker.

Round 2 voting begins today

Step 1: Check your match-ups on and make your picks.

Step 2: Cast your votes. You have until midnight Thursday to vote in the second round.

Step 3: Check back on Sunday to see how your favorites did and to see the third-round match-ups.

Click here to get started voting.

Key results

Eddie Haskell, 1, 124

Eric Cartman, 1,113

Ted Baxter, 1,253

Dan Fielding, 1,237

Jack Tripper, 1,209

Ed Norton, 1,028

Felix Unger, 1,150

Murphy Brown, 1, 065

Jack McFarland, 1,219

Suzanne Sugarbaker, 996

DIRECTIONS: Begin with Bracket A. Vote for your choice in each of the 4 pairings, then click the 'Vote' button at the bottom of that bracket. At that point, you will see a results page. To continue voting, hit the 'back' button in your browser. Repeat these steps for voting in Brackets B, C and D.

Jump to the Bracket you would like to vote in by clicking on the links below.